Jack Nicholson on "Individual Freedom"

Well, it is fast becoming a July 4th tradition over here at Dojo Rat to play this short scene with Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper in "Easy Rider"



I get so frustrated with "conservatives" that have no idea how much people have struggled to have the basic freedoms we experience today.
Sure, they wave the flag and cling to a U.S. Constitution that most of them do not understand and that is in direct conflict with contemporary "conservative" beliefs.

Progressives, or "liberals" if you will, fought against powerful financial institutions with private armies like The Pinkerton's to establish workplace safety regulations.
They ended child labor.
Gave us civil rights.
Women's rights.
The 40-hour work week.
Environmental protection.
Food safety inspection.
--The list goes on and on.

In the folklore of "conservative" mythology, they would do away with all this. They embrace the magical thinking of a non-existent "Free Market".

And as Nicholson says; they'll talk and talk about "individual freedom", but when they see a "free individual", it makes them Dangerous.

Happy Birthday To Me, And A Tribute To The Late Dennis Hopper

Yes, today is the Geo-Rotational celebration of when ol' Dojo Rat first appeared on the planet, and here's a little example of what I got for my birthday:

Oh Boy!
------------

And what the hell, I think I'll take this opportunity to mention the passing of Dennis Hopper, the Drug-crazed actor that is best remembered for his 1969 movie "Easy Rider"

But Hopper was in countless westerns and other movies such as "Hoosiers" and "Apocalypse Now".
Here is a very creepy piece of a 1961 horror movie Hopper stared in called "Night Tide. The mysterious woman that enters the room is Marjorie Cameron, an actual Witch in the Crowley tradition and wife of Jack Parsons:

And here is a very short, hilarious clip of Hopper as "Frank" in the freakish movie "Blue Velvet"

On an interesting note; I read an interview with Hopper that talked about how he used his paranoid personality as a vehicle in his acting.
He told the interviewer that his father had worked for the O.S.S, the precursor agency of the CIA. When he was very young, he was told his father had died in the war. Several years later, his father returned alive, and the "death" story was a cover as he was a spy.
That's enough to make a guy a little paranoid, eh?

R.I.P Dennis Hopper

July 4: Jack Nicholson On Individual Freedom

Well, it looks like this clip is going to become a regular 4th of July feature here on Dojo Rat.
From the movie "Easy Rider", Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda posit on the qualities of individual freedom and the free individual.
This clip is for the younger Ratlets out there, if you haven't seen "Easy Rider", you should rent it.
Believe me, I've lived this clip, in various incarnations...

Jack Nicholson On Freedom

From "Easy Rider"

Here, from the movie "Easy Rider", is Jack Nicholson juxtaposing the concepts of "Individual Freedom" and "Free Individuals". It's a timely thought for this July Fourth, and rings as true today as it did in 1969.
It has occured to me recently that there is somewhat of a life-experiance gap between some of us older Dojo Rats and the younger, aspiring Ratlets that may be reading. There's just a lot of crap that we have lived through that is taken for granted now. I'm talking about the tragic assassinations of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King, the National guard shooting kids at Kent State, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and of course Vietnam.
On the other hand, the '60's were also a time of great hope and promise. There was the civil rights movement, the beginning of environmental awareness, Women's rights and the birth control pill. We saw men walk on the moon. It was definately a decade when people broke out of "the hive mentality", a huge consciousness-raising experiment that changed the face of our great Nation for the better.
I feel our country is now at another "tipping point". Our back is at the wall of endless resource war and near financial ruin.
Yet we are facing a glimmer of hope, change and great things to come. Sure; it will take a generation to get our country back on track, but there is an undeniable wave of excitement and expectation for change.
Let's get this party started...